


Flower Power

by fuzipenguin



Series: Aliens and Earthlings [2]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5576746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzipenguin/pseuds/fuzipenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikaela gets a delivery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flower Power

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to [Close Encounters](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4796393)

                “M. Baines?”

                Mikaela startled at the unexpected voice and peered around the edge of her workbench. An unfamiliar man stood just inside the human sized doorway of the Autobot medical building, the bay doors themselves currently down. At her movement, the man in gray overalls perked up and took a few tentative steps towards her.

                Confused, she put down her work and slid off her stool. After exchanging a glance with Ratchet, seated at his own workbench at the far end of the room, she started jogging over to meet the other human.

                “Yes? I’m Mikaela Baines. How can I help you?” she called out.  

                “Other way around, actually,” the man replied as Mikaela came to a stop in front of him. His name tag read ‘Raymond’, and he flashed a shy smile at her from beneath unruly blonde bangs. He raised up a clipboard and pen. “Got a delivery for you.”

                Mikaela automatically took both items and signed her name where Raymond had indicated, all the while racking her mind to remember what it was she had ordered. “Where is it?”

                “Out in the truck,” Raymond said, gesturing over his shoulder.

                “OK, well you can bring it in and leave it here,” Mikaela replied absently, wondering if it was the new pair of heels she had just purchased online. Or maybe the replacement side mirrors for her bike. Either way, she felt that small thrill of anticipation of getting a package, much like that of a kid on Christmas morning.

                “Uhhh…” Raymond began hesitantly. “That… may be a little hard to do.”

                Mikaela paused in handing the clipboard back. “… why is that?”

                Raymond opened his mouth and then shrugged. “I think you’ll have to just see.” His eyes suddenly widened, and he took a wary step back as behind her, Ratchet stood up from his seat and began walking over.

                “Is there a problem, Mikaela?” the medic rumbled. Raymond hugged the clipboard to his chest and stared up, mouth hanging open in an expression of awe.

                “Nope. Raymond here is just taking me out to his truck. Everything’s fine,” she replied, gently taking the deliveryman’s elbow and propelling him towards the open doorway.

                “New to the job?” she asked quietly as she steered Raymond towards the door.

                The base utilized just one 24 hour delivery company; the commander had requested the pool of drivers be as small as possible and that each delivery person sign a silence waiver. As an extra precaution, the trucks were always asked to drive to areas of the base not routinely populated by the Autobots, in order to cut down on interactions between Cybertronians and humans not in the know. Yet this truck had arrived at the Medical Bay, a place that Ratchet practically lived in.

                That feeling of excitement was starting to fade into wariness as Mikaela realized just how odd this was. Apparently Ratchet had caught on a little sooner than she had, judging by his aggressively puffed out armor.

                It was certainly possible that the truck driver had asked the gate guards for her directly instead of a location. But years spent in the Autobots’ presence had instilled in her a sense of caution, and she gave a meaningful look over her shoulder at Ratchet just before she walked through the exit.

                Moments later, Raymond flinched as the Bay doors were pulled up, and Ratchet strode beneath them to peer down at the parked delivery truck.

                “Um. Just started last week. Never been out here before; I got all turned around before I finally found someone to give me directions to you. Is that… one of the things I’m not supposed to talk about?” Raymond asked, voice wavering a little as he pointed up at Ratchet.

                “Yup. You saw nothing and met no one but me. Right?” Mikaela questioned, adding a note of steel to her voice. Well. At least now she knew the truck hadn’t been sent here maliciously. Yet why was this guy being all mysterious about what the truck was transporting?

                Raymond dropped his gaze back to her and nodded frantically. “Yes, ma’am. Absolutely. Let me show you your delivery.”

                The driver hurriedly walked over to the back of the truck and fiddled with the lock on the door. As he did so, Mikaela looked up at Ratchet to see him glowering down at the van, hands on his hips. He wasn’t saying anything though, so it was apparently safe to his scans. Mikaela breathed a little easier.

                With a ‘ta da!’ flourish, Raymond flung the door up onto its tracks, and Mikaela took a few steps forward, peering into the interior. Moments later, the overhead lights in the van flickered on, and Mikaela reared back in surprise.

                “Wait. _All_ of that? All of that is for me?” Mikaela questioned, turning to face Raymond.

                He bit his lip and gave the smallest of nods. “That’s why I didn’t know where to put it all.”

                A shadow fell over them both as Ratchet leaned over to see inside of the delivery truck. There was a beat of silence before he spoke. “I don’t understand.”

                Mikaela nodded in stunned agreement. The entire back of the truck was filled with flowers; gladiolas if Mikaela’s memory served her correctly. They were everywhere: row after row of clay pots tied down to the floor and dozens of blooms wrapped in bouquets lying on the truck’s side shelving. Nearly every color of the rainbow was represented, except for one. In place of red gladiolas, there was a single bouquet of beautiful crimson roses laying on a shelf on the far back wall, holding court over the other flowers like an aloof queen.  

                “Who… who are they from?” Mikaela asked, suddenly recalling the briefest mention of flowers in a recent conversation held between herself and a certain troublemaking Autobot. Of course, she hadn’t been too focused on the flower bit at the time, but now she remembered the exchange quite clearly.

                “I don’t know. Oh! But there’s a card!” Raymond exclaimed, reaching into this pocket and pulling out a small, folded over piece of stiff, white paper. He handed it to Mikaela and she unfolded it, scanning the words typed there.

                “’A little after the fact, but here are your flowers,’” Ratchet rapidly read aloud over her shoulder. “’When will you be buying flowers for me? Semicolon, right parenthesis… Mikaela, do you know what this all means?”

                Mikaela nodded her head with a resigned snort, folding the card and sliding it into the back pocket of her jeans. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

                “Well, I’m glad one of us does. Because this is looking more and more like Sideswipe’s work,” Ratchet commented.

                Mikaela’s head shot up, a thrill of fear making her skin flush cold. Did he know?!

                “And he’s been expressly forbidden to prank any of the humans. If caught, the punishment would be… dire,” Ratchet added, optics agleam with the prospect. Since the proclamation of humans being off-limits, Sideswipe’s pranks had been restricted to the other ‘bots on base. And Ratchet was one of Sideswipe’s favorite victims, much to the CMO’s consternation.

                “I know who did this, and it’s not a prank,” Mikaela promised, relief rising up as her and Sideswipe’s secret seemed to remain just that. “I’ll handle it from here, Ratch. Thanks for checking it out.”

               “Hn. Are you _sure_ Sideswipe doesn’t need to be punished?” Ratchet questioned, orbital ridges furrowed with suspicion.

               Ratchet always had her safety first and foremost on his mind during her medical interactions with the other Autobots. She was certain he could instantly come up with a hundred different things that could have gone wrong with Sideswipe’s show and tell session.

               Sideswipe was a lot of things, but he had been very mindful of her fragility the entire time she had had her arm deep in his valve. If Ratchet was this eager to punish Sideswipe for a simple prank, what would the medic do if he found out what they had done, no matter how careful the warrior had been?

               A little voice in the back of her head randomly piped up and suggested Sideswipe would probably be just as careful if their roles were reversed in the future. And then _she_ would be the one buying a truckload of flowers.

               Mikaela very firmly squashed that thought down.

               “Very sure,” Mikaela reassured her mentor. “Go on back, I’ll take care of this.”

               With a disbelieving snort, Ratchet turned on the heel of one pede and stalked back into the dark confines of the medical bay. Mikaela tucked an errant strand of hair behind one ear and nervously smiled at Raymond.

               “So, how would you feel about another delivery?” she asked.

\--

               Several hours later as sleep was becoming too much to ignore, Mikaela reached out to turn off her bedside lamp. She paused with her arm in the air, eyeing the vase of flowers on her dresser. She had kept several of the pink and white gladiolas as well as one single red rose; the rest she had asked Raymond to deliver to the battered woman’s shelter downtown.

               She frowned, staring at the beautiful blooms. The red roses she understood; passion, and a dozen of them to signal gratitude. But the gladiolas? Why those? What did they represent?

               Suddenly insanely curious, she grabbed her phone and pulled up a search engine, typing in ‘meaning of gladiolas’. When the search results came up, she clicked on the first one, rapidly scanning the article. Then she went back to the list of links and read a few more, trying to find a consensus.

                Every website listed multiple meanings, but what every article agreed on was that the gladiola flower signified strength. Some people even called them ‘Sword Lillies’ because of their unique shape and their rumored associations with ancient gladiators.

                Mikaela felt her cheeks warm even as something deep inside her chest tightened. The flower choice was… actually pretty thoughtful of Sideswipe. She had gotten many gifts of flowers over the years, but they had generally always been roses. Not something like this, with a bit more consideration behind it.

                And flair, of course. No one could quite beat Sideswipe on showmanship.

                That insidious little voice in the back of her mind spoke once more, whispering half-formed suggestions about warm robot tongue and dexterous geared fingers.

                Mikaela was having a much harder time ignoring that voice in the face of the flowers staring at her from across the room.

 

 ~ End


End file.
